Hollyoaks has pulled no punches since it leapt into its new era following a time-jump.
With three shorter episodes replacing the full five, the soap has more to pack into less time and they are really going for it when it comes to eventful and impactful episodes.
And, in what is one of TV and streaming platforms’ most powerful scenes of the year, Jennifer Metcalfe has delivered a powerhouse performance – one which may be the best of her career so far – as Mercedes McQueen’s cancer battle was laid bear.
We know Mercedes often as a feisty character who lurches from one romantic disaster to another – often losing love interests to grisly outcomes along the way.
But she has entered her most vulnerable territory of all time, with her true pain and fear following her diagnosis being exposed.
Alone, Mercedes listened through tears to supportive messages recorded by her loved ones, and danced in her underwear without her wig and with her stoma bag on display.
With incredible acting from Jennifer paired with impactful writing, production and direction, not to mention the careful details on prosthetics, the scene hit many, many emotions ranging from sorrow and empathy for the character through to pride and strength towards her.
Given she has been a central cog to the show for 18 years, viewers have Mercedes close to their hearts and, of course as statistics will tell us, so many will be able to relate to the hard rollercoaster of physical and emotional turmoil she is on.
When we sat down with the Hollyoaks team for a screening of the scene, there wasn’t a dry eye as everyone was captivated in a haunting silence.
We hadn’t been expecting the scene to air as it came on in isolation and it even hit some of the cast hard, who were left emotional having viewed it for the first time along with us at Metro.co.uk.
However there was one person who couldn’t watch – Jennifer herself. While in the room and lavished with well deserved praise, she told me that she didn’t look at the screen while it was playing.
‘To get to that scene I had to dig deep into personal experiences. It was a bit too much for me to deal with in a room. I’ll watch it on my own. I’ve not seen how it looked – obviously I know how it felt,’ she reflected.
‘The way it came in and the way it was lit in the nursery and playing the lullabies as well… Music really gets to me and I thought, “Not today.”
‘So I just looked at the floor. I’m glad it’s got the response it has, and hopefully it’ll raise awareness.’
Working on the scene clearly took the iconic star to places she isn’t used to going, and she threw everything at it, to outstanding effect.
‘In the past when I’ve done big storylines I’m not “method” at all. I’m not one of those actors that’ve been trained to tap into different things, “I need to do this to be happy, I need to do this to be sad, give me a minute and I’ll get there.”
‘With this one it was full-on “method” acting. I was like, “I didn’t even know I had this in me until that day.”
‘I went into a totally different zone I’ve never been in before and I enjoyed being in. It was very draining and really rewarding. At the end of the day I was just sat at home going, “I don’t know what I just did. It could be the worst thing that television’s ever seen or the best thing. I just don’t know.” I hope what I felt came across.’
Taking herself back there, she continued: ‘It felt beautiful, awful, draining, amazing, special, exciting, sad, upsetting. Like, everything. Every single emotion that you could feel, I did.
‘When they gave me the script I thought, “How am I going to do this?” Because I go from OK, I’m looking at myself in the mirror, I’m taking it in, then I get emotional, then I look at my children, then I get some strength and play this CD. Then my friends are telling me some nice words that make me laugh and then I go, “The words you’re saying are really upsetting but then you play this incredible music and dance freely.” And I thought, “Wow. How am I going to do this?”
‘My dad died of bowel cancer when I was 15 so there’s real raw trauma there for me that I’ve probably never dealt with, so I thought, “Let’s see what happens when I get in this room, and I know when the music’s played it’ll trigger something in me.” I trusted that whatever was going to happen once I got in there would happen.’ Apparently it’s good and I hope it raises awareness that we want it to.’
And there is still a long journey for Mercedes to travel, with Hollyoaks boss Hannah Cheers proud to tell a story that’s the character’s most pivotal yet.
She told me: ‘I think Mercedes is now in the most original and boldest story we’ve ever told with her, coming from the character. She’s just been on a year, hopeless romantic that she is, of her everlasting quest for love, for the right person for her and it hasn’t worked out.
‘But she’s a mother first and foremost of two young girls and she can’t make those mistakes again. Then what happens is completely out of your control and takes over your life, and how does it affect your decision-making.
‘Mercedes we all know has always been a reckless, headstrong character who doesn’t really give a s*** about the consequences, acts first and thinks later. How does cancer change that? Does it make you even more reckless and fear life less, or does it do the opposite?’
Teasing even further down the line, she added: ‘There is a love story that will start to come forward in which we’ll see Mercedes in a position we’ve never seen her occupy in a story before. Again, it’s how much cancer changes that and I think that fresh start for Mercedes is important and we’ll have a lot of fresh energy.’
